This is the final article in the ‘Using Punctuation’ series. If you’ve been following it from Part 1, firstly, thank you and secondly, I hope you’ve found them helpful. This time, I’m looking at the closing punctuation marks: Full Stops, Question Marks and Exclamation Marks.

Full Stop

Back in the 3rd century BC, Aristophanes offered a solution to the continuous Greek writing style by having a dot to denote a pause. It is now the most commonly used punctuation mark in the English language.

Here are some examples of when a full stop should be used:

To denote the end of a sentence, e.g.

He’s my brother.

To mark the end of a group of words that don’t form a conventional sentence, so as to emphasise a statement, e.g.

We went to the football. We were very excited.

In some abbreviations, such as , Dec., p.m., e.g.

There’s a wide variety of fruit, meat, and cakes, etc. at the supermarket.

In website and email addresses, e.g.

fullstop.com

Question Mark

The question mark first appeared in the 15th century and was known as the “punctus interrogatives” (point of interrogation in Latin).

Oxford Dictionaries offers a theory on how the shape of the question mark came about – it began as a dot with a rising ‘tilde’ (.~) to denote upward inflection. Then over the years the present day shape evolved as more and more people tried to use the mark.

Here are some examples of when a question mark should be used:

After a statement that is a direct question, e.g.

Will you wash the car?

A question mark will take the place of a full stop at the end of a sentence. This means that the word that follows a question mark should be capitalised.

A question mark is not needed with an indirect question, e.g.

I wonder what the time is.

A rhetorical question is one that doesn’t expect or require an answer and therefore doesn’t require a question mark, e.g.

Why don’t you go away.

When a sentence is half statement and half question, e.g.

You will do it, won’t you?

A question mark should appear inside quotation marks when the question is within the quoted words, e.g.

He asked, ‘Will you wash the car?’

A question mark should appear outside quotation marks when the quoted words do not form a question, e.g.

Do you agree with the saying ‘Look before you leap’?

Exclamation Mark

One theory for the origin of the exclamation mark is that it comes from the Latin word for joy (“io”). The letter ‘i’ then moved above the ‘o’ and over time came to look like the present day mark.

Here are some examples of when to use an exclamation mark:

To express excitement, surprise, astonishment, or any other such strong emotion and to add additional emphasis, e.g.

Hooray! We won!

An exclamation mark replaces a full stop at the end of a sentence. This means that the word that follows an exclamation mark should be capitalised.

Why not have a go at this simple quiz to test your knowledge of when to use a full stop, a question mark and an exclamation mark:

QUIZ

For each of the following, choose the sentence that ends with the correct punctuation mark:

Instead of using commas or semi-colons, we sometimes use dashes which should not be confused with hyphens. This gets a bit more complicated depending on which side of the Pond you are.

The en-rule dash (–) tends to be used in British styles and the em-rule dash (—) tends to be used in American styles. You can see that the em-rule dash is slightly longer than the en-rule dash and they are both longer than a hyphen (-).

Back in the days of printing presses and where metal letters were set in trays, the en-rule dash was so called because it was the equivalent width of a capital ‘N’. Likewise the em-rule dash was the equivalent width of a capital ‘M’.

Dashes can be used to explain something instead of using a comma or brackets, e.g. ‘the coat – with its 4 pockets – is very popular with walkers’ or to show a sequence, e.g. 2010–2014, A–Z, Bristol–Bath

A hyphen (-), on the other hand, is not the same as an en-rule dash (–). It’s half the length for a start.

A softhyphen is inserted automatically by your word processing software when there isn’t enough room on the line. It will disappear if you move the text around. Then there is a hardhyphen which is inserted when you consciously key the mark to divide a word in two. It will stay there when you move text around.

There are some words that can be a bit misleading when they are split by a hyphen at the end of a line, e.g.

The apostrophe was widely used in the 16th century particularly by the French to act as a junction of two vowel sounds (e.g. la heure became l’heure). Over time English speakers used the mark to contract words and leave unpronounced letters out without losing any meaning.

Here are some examples of when an apostrophe should be used:

To show that something belongs to someone, e.g.

Singular nouns and personal names:

The dog’s tail – says that the tail belongs to the dog.

John’s car – says that the car belongs to John.

Personal names that end in –s:

Charles’s ball – says that the ball belongs to Charles BUT some place names are an exception to this rule:

St Thomas’ Hospital

Plural nouns that end in –s:

The dogs’ bowls – says that the bowls belong to some dogs

Employees’ workplace – says that the workplace belongs to the employees

The colon and semicolon both featured in Gregorian chants – the colon as a “punctus elevatas” (‘elevated point’ in Latin) and the semicolon as a “punctus versus” (‘long pause’ in Latin). The colon first appeared in the 1600s to denote a pause time greater than a comma but less than a full stop.

Semicolon

Like a comma, a semicolon indicates an audible pause – slightly longer than a comma but shorter than a full stop.

Here are some examples of when to use a semicolon:

To replace a full stop to shorten the gap between two closely linked sentences, e.g.

Come round tomorrow; it’ll be great to see you.

Between independent clauses joined by words such as and, but, or, nor, etc. when one or more commas appear in the first clause, e.g.

When I arrive, and that will be soon, I’ll start cooking the dinner; and I’m looking forward to it.

When using a semicolon, the next word should not be capitalised, e.g.

I’m here; you are over there.

Colon

A colon means ‘that is to say’ or ‘here’s what I mean.’

Here are some examples of when to use a colon:

To introduce an item or a list of items, e.g.

Please bring the following: pens and paper, envelopes, and stamps.

When listing items, one by one, one per line, following a colon, e.g.

I can do the following:

Cook

Sing

Drive NB – capitalisation and punctuation after the word is optional

I can do the following:

Boil an egg for breakfast.

Sing the National Anthem.

Drive an HGV lorry. NB – Capitalise the first word and end the sentence with appropriate ending punctuation, either a comma, a semicolon or a full stop. There are no hard and fast rules – just be consistent.

Here’s a quick quiz for you to test your knowledge on when to use a semicolon and a colon:

QUIZ

For each of the following, choose the sentence with the correct punctuation:

1 A You asked for the newspaper, he gave it to you.

B You asked for the newspaper; he gave it to you.

C You asked for the newspaper he gave it to you.

2 A I ask; therefore, that you keep this quiet.

B I ask, therefore; that you keep this quiet.

C I ask, therefore, that you keep this quiet.

D I ask: therefore, that you keep this quiet.

3 A I ordered it a month ago; therefore, it should have arrived by now.

B I ordered it a month ago, therefore. It should have arrived by now.

C I ordered it a month ago: therefore, it should have arrived by now.

4 A The Union Flag has three colours; red, white, and blue.

B The Union Flag has three colours: Red, white, and blue.

C The Union Flag has three colours. Red, white, and blue.

D The Union Flag has three colours: red, white, and blue.

5 A She said she would call round; so, I waited for her.

B She said she would call round, so I waited for her.

C She said: she would call round, so I waited for her.

D She said she would call round: so I waited for her.

6 A I have three dogs: two spaniels and: a terrier.

B I have three dogs; two spaniels and a terrier.

C I have three dogs: two spaniels and a terrier.

D I have three dogs, two spaniels, and a terrier.

7 A The team, excluding the captain, did not play well.

B The team, excluding the captain; did not play well.

C The team; excluding the captain, did not play well.

8 A I have been to Bath, Somerset, Andover, Hampshire and Exeter, Devon.

B I have been to Bath Somerset; Andover Hampshire; and Exeter Devon.

C I have been to Bath Somerset, Andover Hampshire, and Exeter, Devon.

D I have been to Bath, Somerset; Andover, Hampshire; and Exeter, Devon.

Welcome to a series of articles about the punctuation marks most in use in the English language. At the end of each article there is a short quiz for you to test your knowledge of when to use each punctuation mark.

This article is all about the Comma.

The comma started life as a slash (/) but over the years it has been minimised and eventually became the comma we know today.

It’s one of the most commonly used punctuation marks and usually indicates a brief pause , however, there are debates across the Pond on some uses, but for UK English, here are some examples of when the comma should be used:

To separate words or groups of words in a simple series of three or more items, e.g.

My favourite sports are football, rugby, cricket, and golf.
NB – when the comma comes before ‘and’ or ‘or’, it’s known as the Oxford comma. There is considerable debate over the accuracy of this, however, if the Oxford comma is left out it can sometimes be misleading, e.g.
We had coffee, cheese and biscuits and grapes.
By adding a comma after ‘biscuits’ it makes it clear that ‘cheese and biscuits’ are a separate snack, e.g.We had coffee, cheese and biscuits, and grapes.

To separate two adjectives when the order of the adjectives is interchangeable, e.g.

He is wearing a green, short-sleeved shirt, or

He is wearing a short-sleeved, green shirt.

To set off non-essential words, phrases and clauses, e.g.

John, who is my brother, opened the window.

The three cars, a Mini, a Ford, and a Volvo, were parked outside.

The three fruits, an apple, a banana, and an orange, were in the bowl.